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Ytaelena López, an artist and a chimera trained to live within chao

By Valentina Vitols

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López also likes to play with the limits of the “politically correct” concept. She considers it a bet: she goes all the way with taking objects out of context, as much as art allows. “Galleries can be a safe haven for this, and, if someone doesn’t like it, at least it’s tolerated because it is in a gallery.” López says. It can also be dangerous; with "The Virtual Afterlife," an installation about gangs in her neighborhood, she feared for her safety. She wanted to photograph the street altars built in honor of violence victims, but got scared. She ended up—along the participating gallery—inviting people to write their condolences. More than 1,000 people got involved.

López relies strongly on installations. In preparation for these, she researches the community she will be working in. Usually, she selects a topic prompted by an impulse, harvesting ideas and concepts inside herself for several weeks or months. She gets as much information as she can from the web, from personal interviews, and statistic research. López is always hungry for understanding. She can’t stop at the “how,” and needs to step into the "why." “Maybe it's the nature of the topics that I pick: unfairness, paradoxes,” López says.